I’m going to resist the temptation to describe the subsequent transformation scene: suffice it to say that it’s a terrific coup de théâtre, and that the following dissolve between the orphanage and the frozen lake on which Clara and co soon find themselves is as graceful as Bourne’s Sonje Henie-inspired choreography.
As for Act II, oh, where to start. More or less everyone from the first act reappears here, but kaleidoscopically transformed. And Sweetieland, where Clara heads in the pursuit of love, turns out to be a club into which you can enter only if you taste good enough (cue lots of licking, an impishly suggestive comic trope that should delight youngsters on a slapstick level while also soaring benignly above their heads). Trouble is, Clara keeps being barred entry by a martinettish bouncer who’s really a giant mint humbug.
It is outside its doors, then, that the traditional national divertissements play out – except, of course, that tradition has been thrown to the wind. In the Arabian and Chinese dances, for example, Bourne craftily sidesteps any risk of cultural stereotyping by recasting the former as a passage for a marvellously caddish, ciggie-puffing Knickerbocker Glory (Ben Brown, like Terry-Thomas in an ice-cream wig) and the latter, for five ditzy Marshmallow Girls (think Made in Chelsea types on a hoity-toity hen do).
Once again, let’s not spoil the lysergical show-stopper that is Sweetieland itself, and say only that this climactic section is an almost indecently enjoyable atom bomb of camp, but never forgets what Act II of any Nutcracker needs to “do”. What’s striking, too, is that the entire show’s riotous sense of fun doesn’t come at the expense of discipline: in either the playful geometry of Bourne’s ensemble pieces, in his expressive, showpiece solos and duets, or in the performances. His troupe, New Adventures, has never looked sharper, with Shoko Ito’s beautifully expressive Cupid arguably the first among mightily impressive equals.
If Bourne’s The Midnight Bell, earlier this year, was a rare disappointment, Nutcracker! counts as a rip-roaring return to form. In the realms of popular dance theatre, the Bourne supremacy is back.
At Sadler’s Wells until Jan 30, then touring until April. Tickets and details: new-adventures.net
